This article is promoting M&S’s range of Homecare products which combined ‘high quality with affordable prices’. The image that accompanies the text shows a woman happily surrounded by all these new products, which are announced as making her role as a housewife much easier. As the article states ‘washing dishes is rarely enjoyable’ but at least with M&S’s ‘new Homecare range’ the housework can take less time.

The image of the woman highlights the gendered nature of housework at the time – women were largely seen as solely responsible for the housework. Such stereotypes persist today – women are still responsible for the vast majority of the housework even when in paid employment. Current adverts for domestic products are still dominated by women, continually reinforcing these expectations.

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You may also be interested in videos of M & S advertisements broadcast on television throughout the 20thcentury. To find out where you can access these videos, click here.